On the 4th Day of Decline, the Iowa GOP Gave Us… A Serious Lack of Women’s Health Care

DES MOINES, IA – On the fourth day of Christmas, Iowans didn’t receive four calling birds. Instead, Iowa Republicans have given them a serious lack of women’s health care.

Iowa ranks 44th in the nation for physicians per capita, and dead last for OBGYN’s. 

Around 400 Iowa physicians stop practicing each year. Roughly half of those folks leave the state completely and some Iowa counties have not had a student apply for medical school in decades. 

These trends have resulted in maternity care deserts – or counties that don’t have labor and delivery services or doctors who provide prenatal care. Fifty-seven percent of Iowa counties do not have an obstetric facility, even though 22 percent of babies are born to women in rural counties. 

Dr. Rachel Preisser, a diagnostic radiologist specializing in mammography at MercyOne in Waterloo, recently told The Courier what all of this means for her patients: 

“I do breast imaging, and getting patients in the same day they have a concern is always the goal. Currently, it can take two months for them to be seen. That can be a delay in life-saving care.”

Iowans are struggling to get the care they need, when and where they need it. 

This December, instead of French hens and golden rings, we’re counting down the 12 Days of Iowa’s decline — a daily look at the rankings Iowa has tanked under a decade of one-party rule. Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 5. 

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